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Reservoir silting is an unavoidable issue. It is estimated that in Italy, the potential rate of silting-up in large reservoirs ranges from 0.1% to 1% in the presence of wooded river basins and intensive agricultural land use, respectively. In medium and small-sized reservoirs, these values vary between 0.3% and 2%. Considering both the types of reservoirs, the annual average loss of storage capacity would be of about 1.59%. In this paper, a management strategy aimed at sediment productive reuse is presented. Particularly, the main engineering outcomes of an extensive experimental program on geopolymer binder synthesis is reported. The case study deals with Occhito reservoir, located in Southern Italy. Clay sediments coming from this silted-up artificial lake were characterized, calcined and activated, by means of a wide set of alkaline activating solutions. The results showed the feasibility of this recovery process, optimizing a few chemical parameters. The possible reuse in building material production (binders, precast concrete, bricks, etc.) represents a relevant sustainable alternative to landfill and other more consolidated practices.

This paper proposes a methodological approach to the re-use of reservoir sediments for coastal nourishment. The proposed approach represents a point of convergence between water and sediment management, coastal protection from erosion and the re-use of sediments dredged from reservoirs. In particular, this study indicates a general protocol of actions and a reference legislative scenario for the use of sediment from reservoirs for beach nourishment as an alternative to sediment from sea caves or land caves. Quantitative characterization of reservoir sediments and their qualitative characterization are the fundamental steps to define the compatibility between reservoir sediment and beach sand. The study was applied to a real case of Southern Italy known as the Guardialfiera Reservoir.

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Erosive processes influence on several phenomena. In particular, they could influence on land depletion, on vegetation weakening, on aggradation phenomena of intermediate, and plain reaches of rivers, on waterways interruption due to overaggradation phenomena caused by floods, and on the losses of water volumes that may be stored in reservoirs. Among the models proposed in the literature for the prediction of erosion on the annual scale, one of the most widely used is the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE). In the present paper, starting from the definition of the original model, the authors improved the important combined slope length and slope angle (LS-factor), taking into account the mutual interaction of solid particles, in terms of path and confluences, so as to transform the model, which was first classified on a slope scale or at most on a parcel one, into a distributed model on a basin scale. The use of a distributed approach is an integral part of the analysis of the hydrogeological risk. In this way, it is possible to obtain a map of the erodibility of any basin, from which to derive the most vulnerable areas. The proposed methodology has been tested on the Camastra Basin, located in Basilicata Region of Southern Italy.